Why NDC party will not recapture power anytime soon

By K. Badu

No matter how absurd or sophistic the caption of this periodical might appear to observers, it would nonetheless be boundlessly hypocritical for any impenitent agnostic, or for that matter, the brassbound NDC Party loyalists to continue to live in a denial.

Apparently, we do not have to look any further than the 2016 general election results to apprise ourselves of how Ghanaians have changed their voting behaviours.

You may believe it or not, the fact of the matter is that the discerning Ghanaians have overcome their electoral benightedness and are ever prepared to vote on issues, if the just gone election is anything to go by.

So, the obdurate propagandists or manipulating politicians might as well change their seemingly dreary game, get a firm grip of the issues relevant to the masses and come out with pertinent policies and solutions.

Despite their unpardonable coarse governance which brought about their heavy defeat in the 2016 general election, the NDC faithful hold a phantom hope that they will soon bounce back and recapture the power from the NPP Party.

I, for one, do not envision their early return to power, indeed, not anytime soon, judging from the outcome of the just gone general election.

The unbridled corruptions, the arrogance of power and the irreversible incompetence which culminated in economic collapse are still fresh in the memories of discerning Ghanaians.

The fact, though, is the harsh economic conditions the NDC government wilfully imposed on Ghanaians will indeed take a long time to efface.

As a matter of fact, it was an unbearable situation and has thus indelibly stencilled on Ghanaians mental sheets.

There is no denying or hiding the fact that governance is a serious business and as such it requires forward thinking, serious and committed group of people to bring about the needed prosperity.

However, it has not been always the case in Ghana’s democratic dispensation. The emergence of multi-party democracy has given birth to both serious and seemingly playful political parties.

Disappointingly, however, we are more often than not been electing the semicircle of incompetent economic managers who have only succeeded in sinking the economy deeper and deeper into the mire.

Somehow, things started to fall apart when former President Mahama took over the presidency, following President Mills untimely death in July 2012.

Ghana’s total debt rocketed astronomically following the unbridled spending and the numerous corruption scandals involving GYEEDA, SADA, SUBA, Bus Branding, dubious judgement debt payments and many others.

Subsequently, former President Mahama’s uncontrolled spending and the numerous bribery and corruption scandals resulted in harsh socio-economic standards of living.

Ghanaians rightly raised concerns which somehow fell on the deaf ears of Mahama’s insensitive government.

Thus, it did not come as a surprise to some of us when the discerning Ghanaians voted massively for Nana Akufo-Addo during the 2016 general election.

Unsurprisingly, however, following their humiliated election defeat, the disputatious NDC apparatchiks have come out fighting their way back in a desperate attempt to recapture power in the 2020 election.

Ironically, however, there is an ongoing tug of war over the choice of the formidable flagbearer to lead them to recapture the elusive victory in the 2020 general election.

While the Mahama loyalists are fighting tooth and nail to have him return as the party’s next presidential candidate, the Mahama sceptics are insisting that he was incompetent during his tenure in office and must thus be replaced with a more competent flagbearer.

Despite the fact that the sceptics hold the preponderance of the argument about former President Mahama’s incompetence, the diehard supporters will somehow succeed in their quest to bring back Mahama as their flagbearer if he decides to accept their invitation.

Indeed, the vast majority of the NDC Party loyalists are living in a denial about former President Mahama’s much touted incompetence and will thus choose him over any other presidential aspirant.

But the question one may ask the brassbound Mahama loyalist is: where is the justification about former President Mahama’s competence when a GH9.5 billion debt former President Kufuor left in 2009 rocketed to an incredible GH122.4 billion in just eight years?

How can the diehard supporters convince some of us about former President Mahama’s ability to lead Ghana when he woefully shrunk Ghana’s GDP from $47 billion to $40 billion in five years?

How could the gleeful supporters justify former President Mahama’s suitability to lead the nation again when he abysmally dragged an economic growth of around 14 per cent in 2011 to a squeamish 3.6 per cent as of December 2016?

Somehow, the NDC government’s irrevocable incompetence and corrupt practices resulted in excessive public spending, less efficient tax system , needless high public deficit and destabilization of national budgets, heightened capital flight and the creation of perverse incentives that stimulate income-seeking rather than productive activities.

By and large, the successive NDC governments have proven to be worst economic managers who can never improve upon the socio-economic standards of living of Ghanaians.

K. Badu, UK.